Thank you for your interest in this project.
My name is Martina. I am a nurse, and I work at University College Dublin. I am doing a project to find out what children and young people think we should be teaching student nurses about how to talk and listen to children and young people.
We would like to invite you to take part in a research project. The aim of this project is to help future children’s nurses learn how to communicate better with children and young people and we think it is important you have a say in this.
Before you decide if you are happy to take part, it is important that you understand why the project is being done and what it will involve. Take time to read the information that follows carefully and discuss it with others if you wish. If anything is unclear or you would like more information, please contact Martina Kennedy, lead researcher at childnursingresearch@gmail.com.
We're inviting young people to help us understand what nurses need to learn to communicate with young patients. We want to learn from young people about what they believe is important for children's nurses to know. We will use this information to create a communication skills module to teach to student nurses in universities.
What is this project about?
This is part of a PhD project being led by Martina Kennedy, a registered General and Children’s nurse who is currently an Assistant Lecturer in Children’s Nursing at University College Dublin. She is being supervised by Professor Lucy Bray, Dr. Holly Saron and Dr. Louca-Mai Brady. Children and young people, including some from this school, also helped us to design this project.
Who is doing this project?
We are inviting young people with diverse healthcare experiences to hear about what you think is really important for student nurses to understand about communicating with children and young people. The online activities are designed to gather your views and advice about what makes communication with nurses good or not-so-good. You will not be expected to talk about your own personal medical or illness experiences.
Why am I being asked to join in?
No. It is completely up to you if you would like to take part in this project. It’s your choice, taking part is voluntary.
Once the online activities are running, you can still change your mind and withdraw at any time without giving a reason. If you choose to leave the online session, let me or a member of my research team know and I will discreetly end your Zoom session using the private chat function.
Do I have to take part?
If you choose to join in, you will join me (Martina) and a member of my research team in a secure online Zoom workshop with 4-6 other young people. The session will involve activities using digital whiteboards, online drawing tools, and interactive functions to talk about communication.
When you join, you will be in a waiting room, and once we check our list of young people who gave permission, we will let you into the online activities. You can join from a phone, tablet, laptop or computer, whatever device is easiest for you.
We need you to have your video camera switched on at the start of the online activities. Once we’ve checked everyone is present, we would like you to keep your camera on throughout the activities. If you need to turn it off at any time, just send a private message to me or a member of my research team so we know you are still there.
We’ll explore topics like:
• Talk about animated images and scenarios that have been developed based on research to show how nurses and young people communicate with each other.
• Share their views on what good and not-so-good communication can look like.
• Talk about what communication skills should nurses have.
Your ideas are really important and will help us design communication training for student nurses who work with children and young people. The activities will take approximately 60 minutes and will be scheduled outside of regular school hours (Friday/Saturday evenings). We will audio and video-record the discussions to make sure we remember all the important things you say.
At the beginning of the workshop, you will be asked if you are still happy to take part. If you decide you don’t want to, I or a member of her research team will discreetly end your Zoom session using the private chat function. To ensure you have support if you get upset or need help, a parent or guardian must be accessible nearby in the same house for the entire time the activities are taking place. This adult is not expected to take part in the workshop activities.
What will I be asked to do?
What are my choices about how my information is used?
You decision to take part in this project will be completely anonymous and confidential. Please be aware that the only situations in which we will have to break confidentiality are if a participant shares information indicating a risk of harm to themselves or others. If this occurs, we will need to share this information with the principal and relevant professionals outside the research team. We will always aim to inform you, and your parent or guardian, before taking such action. As registered healthcare professionals, the research team has a professional responsibility to act, and the specific action taken would depend on the nature of the disclosure.
The online session will be audio and video recorded. If you share any details that could identify you, this information will be removed when we type up the workshop information. The video recording will be deleted immediately after the audio has been transcribed. The resulting audio transcripts will be fully anonymised.
Once you decide you would like to take part we will ask you to sign an online consent form. Then, just before we start, we'll also ask you if you are happy to join in. It's important to know that while the online session is audio and video-recorded, we will not be able to withdraw your individual ideas once the workshop has finished. This is because your words, online drawings and ideas form part of the group discussion and removing them would compromise the quality of the research data.
All the information from this project will be kept very secure on the Edge Hill University’s online storage. Only the research team can look at it, and it will be kept for 10 years before being safely removed. Any personal details collected on the consent form, such as your name and your parent’s or guardian’s contact details, will be deleted as soon as the project is complete.
We would like to use the information you provide in future studies and to share it with other researchers for ethically approved research projects. After the study, the anonymised data will be stored securely and may be used for future research or by other researchers upon request.
What are the possible benefits or disadvantages of taking part?
We hope you enjoy taking part in this project. We believe your ideas can help shape and improve how communication skills are taught to student children’s nurses.
While we do not think there are any disadvantages for you in taking part, we understand that sometimes it might be upsetting to think about previous healthcare experiences. We will be there to offer support, and we will also call on your parent or a guardian to support you in person.
Data Protection Notice
We follow the GDPR rules and the law called the Data Protection Act (2018) which set out rules for how we must handle, process, store and destroy data. The data for this study will be processed on the legal basis of being in the public interest. At Edge Hill University, we are committed to respecting and protecting your personal information and that all data collected is used fairly, stored safely, and not disclosed to any other person unlawfully. Certain individuals from the University and regulatory organisations may look at your anonymised research records to check the accuracy of the research study. The people who analyse the information will not be able to identify you and will not be able to find out your name or contact details. To find out more about how we protect your data and contact details for our Data Protection Officer, please see https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/about/legal/privacy. The University is a data controller and, in some instances, may be a data processor of this data.
What will happen to the results of the research study?
We'll share what we learn from this project with the advisory and support organisations that are supporting this project, giving them valuable insights into how children and young people like to be communicated with. The results and information about the workshops will be included in a PhD thesis, which will be available online. The results of this project will also be published in academic journals and presented at conferences and events at the university. None of the information shared will identify you. After the project finishes, we'd like to share the anonymised information as "open data," meaning other researchers can use it for new studies or learning, but no one will be able to tell who you are from this information.
The study has been reviewed and approved by Edge Hill University Health-related Research Ethics Committee (ETH2526-0196).
Who has reviewed the study?
What do I do if I have questions or would like to take part?
If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact Martina Kennedy at childnursingresearch@gmail.com.
Is there someone independent I can talk to about the research or if there is a problem?
If you are unhappy with the research in any way please tell us. We will try to put things right. If you would prefer to talk to someone outside the research team, or if you are not happy with the way we deal with your problem, you can contact the Chair and Secretary of the Health Research Ethics Committee on HREC@edgehill.ac.uk.
To give your consent to take part, please complete and submit the online consent form available below.
Thanks for reading this!
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me when I visit, or you can ask your parents or guardians to contact me.
M. Kennedy (25102826) - Improving Nurse Communication - CYP 16-17 yrs Online PIS (Long) Version 1 - 01/12/2025 - EHU Ref: ETH2425-0280